The Virtual Tours of Castel Sant'Elmo

A virtual walk in the fortress overlooking the Gulf of Naples

Castel Sant’Elmo dominates Naples on the highest point of the Vomero hill, offering one of the most spectacular views over the city and the gulf . Originally a medieval castle, it was rebuilt in the 16th century. Today, along with the Museo del Novecento , it is a place of dialogue between various arts, disciplines and cultures.

Discover this evocative place with Experience 360°, a new immersive way to admire the fortress both inside and outside and visit it entirely in virtual mode.

Built on the collapsed remains of a pre-existing fortified residence commissioned by the Angioni, the Fort of Sant’Ermo, and later called Sant’Elmo, was designed by Pedro Luis Escrivà, a military engineer from Valencia, upon the request by Don Pedro de Toledo, viceroy from 1532 to 1553. The construction of the current building began in 1537 and ended in 1547, but an explosion destroyed many of the buildings on the Piazza d'Armi square, which were rebuilt once again between 1599 and 1610. In the midst of the Masaniello revolt in 1647 and the revolutionary uprisings of 1648, the Viceroy Duke of Arcos took refuge in the castle to escape the people's anger. Sant’Elmo was also the centre of the revolution dated 1799, which led to the proclamation of the brief First Neapolitan Republic by a few intellectuals inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution. Used as a prison during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, the fortress went from Military Property to the Superintendence for Artistic and Historical Heritage after impressive restoration works carried out in 1976.

Today, the castle is home to the Campania Museum Complex and, since 2010, the Museo del Novecento, located in the rooms of the upper prison on Piazza d'Armi.

Castel Sant’Elmo dominates Naples on the highest point of the Vomero hill, offering one of the most spectacular views of the city and the gulf. Originally a medieval castle, it was rebuilt in the 16th century. Today, along with the Museo del Novecento, it is a place of dialogue between various arts, disciplines and cultures.

The ambulatories

One enters the ambulatories dug into the rock from the suggestive entrance of the Castle at the foot of the monumental complex, inside the hill on which the structure stands. The colour of the tuff, the grandeur of the spaces, the play of light and the beauty of the architecture make Castel Sant'Elmo an incredible place that offers visitors an unforgettable experience.

The Virtual Tour enables you to enter the Castle, explore the spaces in 3D, retrace the entire extension of the ambulatories, climb along the internal ramps and reach the top of the fortress, where the Piazza d'Armi and the walkways that develop along the perimeter offer a breathtaking view of the Gulf of Naples, Capri, Ischia, Procida and the entire city.

The Museo del Novecento

On the Piazza d'Armi stands the majestic building that houses the Museo del Novecento museum. A permanent collection of works of art created starting from 1910 by both Neapolitan artists and other active artists in the Neapolitan city. The collection perfectly captures the succession of various artistic movements, from the nineteenth-century landscape tradition to the change brought on by the futurist waves , from the "Return to order" of the 1930s to the multiple experiences of the second half of the twentieth century.

Through the Virtual Tour , you can enter the Museum, explore all the rooms in 3D and admire the works on display.

The Museum exhibits over 170 works made by 90 Neapolitan artists , with the addition of some non-Neapolitan masters who were active in the city with various roles. It is articulated via a chronological path that is divided into sections: from the documentation of the Secession of the twenty-three (1909) or the initial Futurism movement in Naples (1910-1914) to the Circumvisionisti movement and the second Futurism (1920s-1930s); from the various testimonies on what took place between the two wars, to the experiences that followed after World War II (1948-1958), from the 'South' Group to the so-called Neorealism, from the M.A.C. to the Informal or Group '58. The sections reserved for the 1970s follow, up to the last section, where the activity is documented of those who had already established themselves in the city during that decade while continuing to work after the 1980s experimenting different languages.